Half of all post sent in Dublin for national and international delivery does not leave the An Post sorting office the same day, according to the company's internal figures, writes Olivia Kelly.
Daily records for the Dublin mail centre from September 15th to October 5th, seen by The Irish Times, show that the proportion of post leaving the sorting office the same day regularly slips under 50 per cent.
The Communications Workers' Union (CWU), which represents postal workers, said the company's customer service department was receiving up to 1,600 calls each day, and 1,200 of these related to letter delivery.
On September 15th some 1,611,105 items were received in the Dublin mail centre; 835,395 or 52 per cent remained in the mail centre at the end of the day. On Thursday last week, 2,272,040 items were received, with 1,429,765 or 62 per cent still in the sorting office at the end of the day.
An Post said it did not comment on internal figures. However, a spokeswoman said the union was using misleading information in an attempt to damage the company.
"It's a concerted propaganda campaign where they are relating the quality of service to mail volumes and creating a misleading impression," she said.
"Leaflets and fliers are held and delivered only when a house is getting other post, and we have major business customers who get a discount for mail to be sorted at off-peak times."
The union also claims that less than 60 per cent of post sent from Dublin to the rest of the country reaches its destination the day after posting, despite a target of 94 per cent for next-day delivery.
An Post says this figure is false. "I can't understand anybody putting a figure like that about. Half the postal workers in the country would have to not be working. It absolutely could not possibly be true and it's not true," the spokeswoman said.
The CWU was attempting to deflect attention from its proposed strike action, she said.
The union last week opened a ballot on industrial action over its claim that An Post had failed to honour national pay agreements. The ballot closes next Friday.
Since yesterday, the company has stopped posting internal performance figures in the sorting rooms. "An Post is going to great lengths to cover up the truth rather that address the service problems," a CWU spokesman said.